Doom

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core i7-12700KF compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i7-12700KF scores 35,355 on average, placing it 0.1% above the Intel Core i5-14400 (35,336) and 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core i9-12900HX (35,289). It trails the Intel Core i7-13800H by 0.2% (35,416). These deltas are within noise, indicating near-identical multi-threaded performance among these four processors.

Q: What is the GPU's standing among all tested graphics cards?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 holds the 66th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23,181. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, scores 23,321 (0.6% higher), while the Intel Arc B580 is 0.7% lower at 23,021.

Q: At which resolution and settings does this combo achieve its highest frame rate?

A: The maximum measured average FPS is 226.9 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest average is 48 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. The full range spans from 48 to 226.9 FPS across all twelve measured configurations.

Q: How large is the performance gap between Low and Ultra settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, Low yields 80.8 FPS while Ultra drops to 48 FPS—a difference of 32.8 FPS. This represents a 40.6% reduction in frame rate from Low to Ultra, showing that Ultra settings impose a substantial load on the GPU at this resolution.

Q: What is the CPU's multi-threaded capability relative to its single-threaded score?

A: The i7-12700KF achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 28,979 versus a single-core score of 4,091, a ratio of approximately 7.1:1. This scaling reflects its 12 cores and 20 threads operating under Alder Lake architecture.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested system configurations for Doom?

A: This specific CPU-GPU pairing ranks 979th out of 1,681 tested combos in Doom. This places it in the upper-middle portion of the database, meaning roughly 58% of tested systems deliver higher frame rates in this game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using TSMC's 5 nm process, packing 18,900 million transistors into a 159 mm² die. Its memory subsystem features 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU boost clock reaches 2460 MHz, with a base clock of 1830 MHz. These specifications translate to 15.11 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and a pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s.

In Doom, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises. At 1080p, the RTX 4060 produces 167 FPS on High settings, but at 1440p the same settings yield 106.4 FPS—a drop of 36.3%. Moving to 4K High drops further to 58.8 FPS, which is 64.8% below the 1080p result. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, with the frame rate falling roughly in line with the pixel count increase.

The 8 GB frame buffer appears sufficient for Doom's demands across all tested settings, as even Ultra at 4K maintains playable frame rates. The 128-bit memory bus, while narrow by modern standards, is paired with GDDR6 clocked at 17 Gbps effective, which provides enough bandwidth for this title. The GPU's 66th percentile ranking among all graphics cards suggests it sits in the mid-to-upper tier, and the measured results confirm it can handle Doom at 4K with adjusted settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 achieves rank 979 out of 1,681 tested combos in Doom. This position places the system in the 58th percentile of all tested configurations. The ranking reflects the balance between a high-end CPU and a mid-range GPU—the processor is in the 89th percentile among all CPUs, while the graphics card sits in the 66th percentile among all GPUs.

The CPU's strength relative to the GPU means that in CPU-bound scenarios, this combo will outperform what the GPU alone might suggest. However, in Doom, a game that scales well across hardware tiers, the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution and settings increase. The rank suggests that higher-ranked combos likely pair the RTX 4060 with faster CPUs or pair faster GPUs with comparable processors. Since the i7-12700KF outperforms rivals like the i5-14400 by only 0.1%, the CPU choice is unlikely to be the differentiating factor in most comparisons—the GPU selection matters more.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 226.9 FPS on Low, 196.1 FPS on Medium, 167 FPS on High, and 138.5 FPS on Ultra. The difference between Low and Ultra is 88.4 FPS, a 38.9% reduction. At this resolution, all settings exceed 138 FPS, making the experience smooth on any display.

At 2560x1440, frame rates drop to 145.7 FPS on Low, 125.6 FPS on Medium, 106.4 FPS on High, and 91.6 FPS on Ultra. The Low-to-Ultra gap narrows to 54.1 FPS, a 37.1% reduction. Even the lowest result here—91.6 FPS on Ultra—remains fluid for fast-paced gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the numbers fall further: 80.8 FPS on Low, 67.3 FPS on Medium, 58.8 FPS on High, and 48 FPS on Ultra. The spread between Low and Ultra is 32.8 FPS, representing a 40.6% reduction. This resolution presents a clear choice: Ultra dips below the 50 FPS threshold, while High stays above 58 FPS.

Across all resolutions, the relative performance drop from Low to Ultra is consistent, ranging from 37.1% to 40.6%. This consistency suggests that Doom's settings scale in a predictable manner, with each step from Low to Medium to High to Ultra imposing a similar incremental cost.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF operates with 12 cores and 20 threads, combining performance and efficiency cores in its Alder Lake-S design. Base clock is 3.60 GHz with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, and the CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory across a dual-channel bus. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 25 MB of shared L3 cache.

In Doom, the CPU's role is less critical than the GPU's, particularly at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the frame rates of 167-226.9 FPS suggest the CPU can feed the GPU adequately even at high refresh rates. The single-thread performance is strong—a Geekbench single-core score of 2,526 and Cinebench R23 single-core of 4,091—which matters for game logic and draw calls. Multi-threaded performance is also robust, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 28,979 and a Passmark multithread score of 34,092.

The CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all processors means it outperforms the vast majority of installed CPUs. In Doom, this headroom means the CPU is unlikely to bottleneck the RTX 4060 at any tested resolution. The boost clock of 5.00 GHz provides the single-thread speed that older game engines like Doom's id Tech 6 can leverage effectively. The data supports this: the frame rate scales down with resolution increases, which is characteristic of GPU-bound performance.

Settings Recommendations

For 4K displays, the data suggests High settings at 58.8 FPS offer the best balance, as Ultra drops to 48 FPS—below the 50 FPS threshold that many players consider minimum for smooth action. Medium at 67.3 FPS is also viable if higher frame rates are preferred over visual fidelity. Low at 80.8 FPS sacrifices too much visual quality for a marginal gain over Medium.

At 1440p, Ultra at 91.6 FPS remains comfortably playable, and High at 106.4 FPS provides a meaningful improvement in smoothness. Medium at 125.6 FPS and Low at 145.7 FPS are available for competitive play where refresh rate matters more than visuals. The 1440p Ultra result is the strongest argument for this resolution on this hardware—it clears 90 FPS while maintaining maximum settings.

At 1080p, all settings exceed 138 FPS, meaning even Ultra provides a high-refresh experience. Low at 226.9 FPS approaches the limit of most 240 Hz displays. For esports-style play, Low or Medium maximizes frame rate; for visual quality, Ultra at 138.5 FPS remains excellent.

The overall recommendation: Ultra is best reserved for 1080p and 1440p, while High is the sweet spot at 4K. Medium serves as a fallback for 4K users who prioritize frame rate.

Resolution Scaling

From 1080p to 1440p, frame rates drop by roughly 36-38% across settings. From 1440p to 4K, the drop is more severe: 44-45% across settings. The cumulative drop from 1080p to 4K is approximately 65% for every settings level. This scaling closely matches the pixel count increase—4K has 4 times the pixels of 1080p, and 2.25 times the pixels of 1440p.

The consistent proportional drop across settings indicates that the GPU is the limiting component at all resolutions. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate would plateau at higher resolutions as the GPU becomes underutilized. Instead, the RTX 4060's rendering throughput scales with resolution, confirming a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU's 5.00 GHz boost clock and 12 cores provide ample headroom, as evidenced by the 226.9 FPS maximum at 1080p Low—a result that would expose CPU limitations in less capable systems.

The data implies that users seeking higher 4K frame rates would benefit more from a GPU upgrade than a CPU upgrade. The i7-12700KF's performance relative to rivals (within 0.3% of its nearest competitors) suggests that CPU choice is not the constraining factor in this combo's Doom performance.